The Rabbit Temple
by misto713
Summary: "So, my kith was hired for a simple caravan escort in southern Nevarra. Twelve days of walking alongside donkeys, and men who smelled like donkeys, across flat nothingness…" Adaar reveals one of the weirdest things that ever happened to him.


**A/N:** I wrote this piece for LoryBlackWolf, about her Inquisitor Krahel Adaar as part of an art exchange. You can find more about Krahel on tumblr: krahel-adaar dot tumblr dot com.

To LoryBlackWolf: I hope I did him justice :)

-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-

"So, my kith was hired for a simple caravan escort in southern Nevarra. Twelve days of walking alongside donkeys, and men who smelled like donkeys, across flat nothingness…" Adaar reveals one of the weirdest thing that ever happened to him.

-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-

"Well, shit." Shokrakar lifted an eyebrow at the raging sandstorm in the distance as if it was nothing more than a couple unruly Vashoth who needed firm handling. A minor inconvenience, really.

Krahel pulled the suffocating scarf away from his face and, not for the first time, thought that having sand blown into his mouth, nose and eyes would almost be worth to get rid of it. To get it away from his throat. A week of snail-paced, unrelenting and utterly _boring_ journey throught the Nevarran desert had left a mark on his composure.

The company didn't help either. Stinking, selfish and incompetent, these 'traders' summarized every single thing Krahel hated about humans.

The moment this thought passed through his mind, Stupid decided to speak up, "Sand storm ahead!" While the rest of the traders panicked at the obvious threat to their lives, this one blinked a couple times, then turned to Shokrakar, "Can we walk around it?"

Shokrakar stared at him for a second. Then said as firmly as she could, which was a lot, "No."

"Then can't your mage just make it go away?"

Krahel snorted in disgust and shook his head. He could have sworn the donkeys were smarter than their owners. As if on cue, several of the animals stepped from foot to foot and took a couple steps back, away from the storm on the horizont.

"But we have to be in Vyrantium within a week! How do you propose we get past it then, eh?!"

Krahel exchanged a commiserating look with his long-time boss and… partner and decided to jump in before Shokrakar accidentally killed the idiot. Or injured his feelings, which would then mean they would threaten not to pay them once they were safe in Tevinter. "Not by getting ourselves killed, that's for sure. Unless you'd like to arrive in Vyrantium in a casket?" When he saw Stupid take a breath to no doubt hurl insults, he quickly looked around to find a solution. That's when he saw it. "There! In the distance! I think it's some kind of ruin. We could take shelter there and wait for the storm to pass."

"In the Rabbit Temple?" Coward chose that moment to get involved. He squinted at the building in the distance suspiciously. "No way. The knife-ears have probably put some poison or traps in there. It won't be safe."

Shokrakar growled in frustration, "Do you see some other building that can house us until _that,_ " she pointed towards the slowly but surely approaching storm, "reaches us? If so, do share with the rest of us!"

Coward wisely shut up.

Greedy was the first one to accept the plan, miraculously, "Very well. We will hide there until the storm passes."

Krahel lifted an eyebrow. A bit of sanity, finally?

"We will make sure to subtract the wasted time from your pay. We're not responsible for the storm, and we won't be paying for you Oxmen's upkeep."

' _Aaand there it is'_. The amount of stupidity in this group never ceased to amaze him. How the hell did this group ever manage to become successful in their trade? He honestly couldn't guess.

Once again, Krahel was grateful not to be the leader of their little group. If nothing else, he at least didn't have to argue with pathetic fools about bullshit like "whose fault is it that a random sand storm is about to kill us all". ' _Let Shokrakar deal with it'_ , he thought as he took the reins of the closest donkey and led the animal in the direction of the ruined temple. It followed without a hint of struggle, and he once again thought that it was much smarter than its owners, one of whom was currently yelling something along the lines of, " _You cows eat too much!_ ".

He should have known it will turn out like this.

When the traders insisted that four people were too many to guard them and offered to only pay for two of them to serve as bodyguards and armed escort for their caravan, it should have been obvious what the deal was. Even with Taarlok going over the contract, _twice_ , the greedy bastards still tried to cheat them of every coin they could. Had Shokrakar not been careful with money herself, they would end up _owing_ these humans for the privilege of escorting them across this damned desert.

Krahel snorted in annoyance, and had to consciously relax his hold on the donkey's reins. The animal deserved better than to become the victim of his rage.

The last trader took the reins of the other two donkeys and quietly followed behind Krahel.

' _Hmm, that one might not actually be so bad_ ,' Krahel squinted through the sandy wind at the man following him. ' _Or at least, he has better survival instincts than his companions._ '

But then, he supposed _one_ of the traders had to have brains. Krahel idly wondered if that made him less or _more_ dangerous, considering the company he kept. If nothing else, he should at least learn the name of this one. Yet, ironically, he was the only one who had not introduced himself.

The others threw their names at them as soon as they met, but neither Krahel nor Shokrakar bothered to remember them. That's what the contract was for - to find the bastards by name if they tried to get out of paying by simply leaving. Until that happened, Shokrakar's approach worked out well enough.

Funny, the traders weren't too happy about being called Stupid, Greedy, Coward and Quiet, and used every opportunity to call them Oxmen or Cows in retaliation. With the exception of Quiet over there, who didn't say much in the first place.

As the wind picked up in force and blew another wave of sand into his mouth, Krahel righted the suffocating scarf to cover all but his eyes and thought that things could have been worse. He didn't know how, but he was sure they could have been.

Somehow.

-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-

They made it into the inner courtyard just in time. The sandstorm passed over where they've been just hours before, and left behind air so full of sand and dust it was almost unbreathable even this far away from the epicenter.

Krahel poked the fire he managed to start mostly thanks to his magic and tuned back in just in time to see an exhausted looking Shokrakar fall down next to him in front of their tent. "So? How did it go?"

"Fucking imbeciles," his boss growled. "Trying to blame _us_ for the storm!" She sighed, "Yes, it's done, and we will continue as soon as the sand settles. We'll wait here for a day, then finish the escort and finally get paid."

He nodded and poked the small fire again. That was about what he expected would happen. "Do we know what this place is called?" Krahel looked around the temple, noticing the elven statues with bows and the ancient halla murals on the walls.

"Beats me." She snorted. "The humans call it 'Rabbit Temple'."

Krahel snorted too. "Of course they do."

There was no respect among these people. Not for elves, not for their Vashoth bodyguards, not for the animals who carried most of the caravan across the hostile desert… not even for each other. But at least he had Shokrakar around. She knew exactly when he needed company… and when he needed to be alone. He appreciated that.

Their dinner passed in silence, which suited him just fine. Now if only the traders at the other side of the courtyard stopped yapping. At least Krahel was grateful that the humans considered sharing space with their non-human bodyguards to be beneath them, and made their own fire, away from the Vashoth. That suited all of them just fine - the humans weren't 'polluted' by the Valo-Kas presence, and the mercs could enjoy a little bit of relative peace and quiet.

Krahel tried his best to tune out the humans and looked around once again.

These ruins were fascinating. How long did they stand here? It was centuries since the elven cities fell, centuries more since the darkspawn laid siege upon this part of the world and covered it with their Blight… yet the temple still stood strong. The statues might be a bit weathered, and parts of the temple might have fallen, but on the whole, this building looked exactly as it must have in ancient times when elves ruled this world.

The sand all around the temple made it hard to see whether it was day or night, much less recognize any specifics from the temple itself. It would be good to know which elven god was worshipped here at least. Krahel narrowed his eyes, trying to make out details to no avail. What wasn't covered in sand was miraculously overgrown with plants.

Hmm, there must be a water supply somewhere inside…

"Adaar." Single word from Shokrakar had him turn his head towards her. She simply shook her head, "Don't."

He smirked, "But just imagine what we could learn. The elves might have left behind some interesting things too…"

Shokrakar only shook her head again, cast a sigle glance in the direction of the humans, and Krahel understood.

If they were to explore the temple, the humans would either demand 'recompense' as the Vasthoth 'abandoned their guarding duty', or they would simply demand that anything the Vashoth find inside be turned over to them since the caravan expedition was theirs. It just wasn't worth risking their necks for no profit.

Krahel sighed. He wished he at least brought some books to read. Well, too late for regrets now.

-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-

The desert night was bitter cold, and Krahel pulled the thin blanket closer to his shoulders. The humans still dithered and argued about what to do next, but no one paid him any attention.

He was officially on guard duty. Funny how the 'hired help' was always invisible, even when the traders knew he was around.

"What do you want us to do? We need to wait fo the sand to settle or we'll get hopelessly lost!" Coward hissed at his companions.

Krahel wondered if they knew, or cared, that their voices carried. Did they consider Vashoth so stupid that they wouldn't understand their arguments?

"We can't wait too long! If we're not in Vyrantium within a week, the ship will leave and we wil have to wait a full moth for the next one!" Greedy didn't even bother to keep his voice down.

Stupid couldn't keep quiet anymore. "Why don't we send the Oxmen to bring our cargo to the ship while we wait here for the storm to settle?"

There was a moment of silence as all the traders and silent Vashoth considered the amount of sheer _Stupid_ in that sentence.

"Just stop talking. You don't get to have ideas anymore." Well, at least Greedy had some self-preservations instincts.

Wrong thing to say. Stupid turned beet red and took a deep breath, "Well, what do you want us to do?! We can't keep carrying lyrium too long, or we'll go crazy!"

Wait, lyrium?

 _Lyrium?_

These idiots were smuggling _Lyrium_?!

Shokrakar jumped up from her silent watch near their tent, and stormed over to the idiots to start screaming at them. _"This was supposed to be a fur trading caravan!" "What we trade with is none of your concern, Cow!" "Doesn't matter what we carry, your job is to protect us anyway!" "Not if it threatens our lives, you pathetic_ bas _! Smuggling Lyrium could get us all executed!" "Calm down! Nobody even knows it's lyrium! We made it look like oil." "…You don't even have it_ contained _!?_ " The argument made the donkeys anxious. They started braying and added to the endless cacophony of irritating noises.

Krahel rubbed his temples. He could feel a headache building up.

To distract himself from the display, he looked around the camp again… and found Quiet watching him from the other side of the camp. For some reason, that calculating gaze sent shivers down his spine.

The argument continued, but Krahel didn't bother to pay attention. Shokrakar was more than capable of dealing with any problems on her own. His attention was fixed on the last trader, who finally turned his gaze away from Krahel… and went back to staring at the elven ruins.

That's when they heard it.

Deep rumbling resonated from the temple, shaking the very ground beneath their feet. Sand and broken branches fell down from the alcoves as the ancient statues of elven archers slowly turned on their pedestals and aimed their stone bows at the invading caravan.

Krahel gulped. For a couple pieces of stone, they sure were intimidating. Were they capable of attack? He hoped not, but wouldn't bet his horns on that. He considered moving their tent away from the statues' line of fire… but the open-mouthed wolf heads closer to the ground didn't look any less threatening. Maybe to the alcove near the donkeys?

"What was _that_?!" Stupid whispered in panic. Coward only whimpered in response.

"Something's inside that temple." Shokrakar stated, but didn't offer to go explore. "Demons, probably." She shounded nervous.

Coward's whimpering got louder. "We have to leave here!"

"And run straight into the sandstorm? We'd be lost within minutes. That's suicide." Krahel wasn't happy about the idea of sleeping near a temple that might be full of demons, but getting killed wouldn't solve anything.

The donkeys became agitated, though Krahel couldn't tell whether it was caused by something within the temple, or if they picked up on the human's nervousity.

The one closest to the temple doors started braying again, while the humans tried their best to ignore it. Krahel had a feeling that the donkeys were trying to tell them something, but the humans were all too used to ignoring the signs.

That was when the Quiet Trader spoke up, "I have an idea."

Everyone paused and turned to him, more out of surprise than respect.

Quiet Trader smirked, "We can regroup from our losses. The Valo-Kas will explore the temple, deal with… whatever caused that rumbling and turned the statues against us. They will bring any expensive trinkets they find inside back to us. In return, we will pay them for the escort as promised. That way, we can all go back to our duties safely."

Shokrakar frowned at him, "And why should we do that? We're not being paid to fix your messes. What's in there for us?"

His smirk only grew wider, "Oh, but you could very easily 'pay to fix our messes'. All we'd have to do is mention to the Vyrantium guards that you're involved in lyrium smuggling, and they'd be all too happy to execute you."

Shokrakar snorted, "You'd loose your precious cargo just to spite us? You _bas_ are too greedy for that. Why would the guards even believe you?"

"Oh, they'd be more than happy to believe us, if we're willing to leave our cargo with them as sign of goodwill."

Blackmail? Looked like Krahel will have to change Quiet's name to Asshole. He stood up and grabbed his staff, while Shokrakar did the same with her blade, threat obvious to all of them.

Krahel decided to give them one last chance to see reason. "Or we might just leave you here to fend for yourselves while we go back home on our own." If they wanted to play like that, he felt no need to defend them any longer.

Asshole narrowed his eyes. "Then you'd have to explain the disappearance of our caravan. Trust me, we are expected in Tevinter, and if we don't arrive at the appointed time, the Tevinter guards will come after you."

"Trust you? Now that's a joke. That makes me believe what you just said even less. 'Tevinter guards' will probably believe that you got yourselves killed due to your own stupidity, or that you decided to sell all that lyrium to some rival magister. They'll come after _you_ , not us." He smirked at the human, who only snarled in response.

' _We're not some weak humans, Asshole. Nor are we stupid beasts who cave at the first pseudo-logical argument you try to make. Blackmailing Vashoth is a lot harder than what you must be used to_ ,' Krahel thought, but knew that the humans will simply find something else to use against them. It was just a matter of time. If the Vashoth wanted to win this one, they'll have to gain the advantage somehow.

Asshole took a deep breath, no doubt to continue his attempts at blackmail when the donkeys brayed again. One of the statues glowed bright blue and everyone turned to stare at it.

Krahel's eyes widened when he realized what was about to happen.

"Look out!" he threw himself forward, grabbed Shokrakar by the arm and somehow managed to drag the much stronger warrior a couple feet away.

Just in time. Bright beam of blue light shot out of one archer statue and hit the ground where she stood just seconds before.

Shokrakar stared at the burned spot incredulously, then looked down where he still held her by the arm, "Good job, Krahel."

He only nodded in response.

"See?! Did everyone see that?! We can't remain here!" Coward started shouting, which only got the donkeys to bray that much louder.

"We have to get rid of whatever caused that! We can't stay here if it's not dealt with!" Greedy jumped in and Krahel knew that security of the caravan was only his second concern, at best. Probably salivating at the prospect of ancient elven riches. "This is what we pay you Oxmen for! Protect us and go deal with it!"

Shokrakar's face twisted in anger and she twisted out of Krahel's hold to give them a piece of her mind, but never got the chance.

One of the donkeys brayed that much louder and that was obviously too much for Stupid. "Shut up, you idiotic waste of caravan space!" he shouted and undid his belt to give the poor animal a thrashing.

Krahel growled low in his throat and moved to stop him. Then he paused, and took stock of the situation. Donkeys brayed, statues turned. Donkeys brayed second time, statues shot blue spectral flames. Donkey brays for the third time…

He smirked and crossed arms over his chest. ' _This should be good._ '

The moment Stupid stepped on a tile near the donkeys, huge white stone spike shot out of the hidden trap in the ground. It caught him by the tunic and left him hanging off the spike like an imekari carried by the scruff of his neck, screaming in fear and rage, waving his arms around as if to fight invisible enemies.

Krahel chuckled at the idiot's terrified screams. "Nice shot, demons," he muttered, but ovbiously not quietly enough.

Shokrakar snorted as she turned her face towards him with a smirk of her own, "What are you talking about, Adaar? The demons missed."

That only angered the traders more. "Just get him down, you stupid Cow!"

Krahel shook his head at their demands, but seeing the idiot hang by his tunic put him in a better mood, so he decided to go along with their demands. He walked up to the screaming trader, grabbed him by the back of his tunic and simply pulled up and off the spike. The moment Stupid's feet touched the ground, he ripped himself off Krahel's hold and ran back to the relative safety of his companions.

But there was one thing they all agreed on. These attacks had to stop. They couldn't sleep out here when a demon could get out of the temple and kill them in their sleep. Or worse, get into their heads and possess them. If he was to deal with demons, he thought with a shudder, it was better to do head-on, and confront them in direct combat.

Shokrakar reached the same conclusion. They exchanged a look, then went to gather their supplies.

"Where are you cows off to now?" came the irritated voice of Greedy.

"To regroup from _our_ losses, of course," Krahel smirked at them and was gratified to see them fuming. "We will explore the temple and keep its riches for ourselves." He knew he shouldn't provoke the humans, but he was so done with it all, that he was way past caring.

"That's not what we agreed on! You stay here and guard us! Abandon your post now and you won't be paid once we reach Tevinter!" the trader obviously expected them to fall in line after that threat.

Krahel exchanged a look with Shokrakar, then took care to meet the eyes of every single on of them. The amount of hostility in the traders was staggering, especially the Asshole who glared holes at them but thankfully didn't get involved.

He shook his head, "You wouldn't have paid us anyway."

Shokrakar snorted next to him, "If you're not happy with us, you can always just leave," she pointed at the road outside the temple walls, barely visible through the sand.

The closest trader started screaming after them, but they paid him no mind so long as no one moved to stop them. Both Vashoth turned on their heel and aimed for the temple doors.

As he passed by the donkeys, he got an idea. "Hey, Shokrakar!" The moment she turned, he grabbed the reins of one of the animals. "Why don't we take one of these with us?" Might serve as a decent warning system for any traps about to be activated inside.

She lifted an eyebrow, but then smirked. "Sure, throw the donkey in first. Might keep us from getting our asses burned."

That… was not exactly what he had in mind, but Krahel left the Vashoth supplies by the animals, untied the donkey anyway, and led it with him to the temple doors. Miraculously the animal didn't protest. He wondered if it felt safer with the Vashoth than its owners.

"You know, these donkeys would have made really good scouts."

-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-

"So what do we call it?" Krahel asked as he walked alongside the docile donkey into the entrance hall of the 'rabbit temple'.

"Why do we need to call it anything?" Shokrakar asked carelessly, as she looked around the temple to find anything worth carrying with them back to the Free Marches.

"Well, if it's to save our hides from any traps, we better show it more respect than the idiots outside," he muttered and checked the animal, who stared curiously back at him. Shokrakar paid him no mind as she had her hands stuck in the closest chest. Krahel checked the donkey over, and noticed the brighter spot of fur on its forehead. "How about Spotty?"

The donkey snorted in agreement and Krahel smirked. "Spotty it is, then."

He left Spotty to his own devices and went off to explore the entry hall as well. Shokrarar was busy stripping the ancient chests of any valuables, and he knew she didn't need any help with that. He decided to check the walls instead.

' _Now those are some interesting braziers,_ ' he thought as he noticed the strange half-sconces, half-braziers lining the walls. What kind of fire burned inside them? They didn't seem well-made for any kind of fire to be put there - too wide to hold torches properly, too thin for larger burning logs to be placed there… and no tools around to clean the soot out properly either.

He decided to use a small bit of his magic to see it better.

The moment he cast a small flame inside his palm, that… _thing_ on the wall _sucked it out of his hand_ and used it to light itself up. "Shit!" he shouted and took several steps back, shaking his tingling palm in shock.

Shokrakar lifted her head. "What's going on?"

"That thing just… ate my magic to light itself up." He stared at the fire which now burned bright teal. Unnatural. He shuddered.

Shokrakar came to stand next to him and stared at the flames with a suspicious expression too. "Did it hurt you?"

"No."

"Did it do anything else?"

"I… don't think so. I think it just… uses magic to burn." Krahel wasn't certain, but once he concentrated on the flames, they didn't seem malevolent. Just creepy.

Shokrakar stared at it a moment longer. "Then… Try to light a torch from it." When Krahel just looked at her as if she grew a second pair of horns, she rolled her eyes. "We'll be going to the lower levels of the temple, and right after a sandstorm. Do you expect there will be normal fire or light around? If we don't use this, we'll go in blind. Fight demons in total darkness."

Krahel understood her logic. That didn't mean he liked the thought of sticking his magic into something he didn't know anything about. But… they needed to go on. He sighed, bent low to take the closest torch and stuck it in the magefire.

The torch lit up pale teal, and he could feel it feed on his magic. He shuddered at the strange feeling, but when it didn't do anything else, he relaxed.

Shokrakar nodded approvingly, then turned back to search for more valuables. Krahel started checking the walls and trying to find the safest path forward, deeper into the temple. Once they were done, all three (Spotty included) gathered by the second door.

Shokrakar pushed it open.

It looked like a path straight into hell. Huge hole full of darkness and stiff air filled with strange scents Krahel couldn't identify. Teal light from the single torch in his hand was barely enough to illuminate their small party, and didn't even reach the temple walls.

As much as Krahel disliked using unknown magic, he was now glad that he had at least this much light. This was getting really scary.

"Can you find more of those braziers?" Shokrakar whispered next to him.

Krahel simply nodded. He could almost _feel_ them calling out to him. Thirsty for his magic. He shuddered but walked to the closest one and used the torch in his hand to light it up as well. He made his way carefully along the walls, lighting up as many of the small braziers as he could, trying his hardest to ignore the hissing whispers that the 'fire' produced every time a new brazier was lit.

When he was done, he returned to Shokrakar who looked just as anxious as him. The sooner they were done with this, the better.

Shokrakar went on to explore the second room, while Krahel tried his best to prepare for the upcoming fight. What were the best tactics to use against demons? He remembered his old lessons from his human tutor, but they didn't help him much, since he didn't even know what type of demon or demon-possessed corpse they will face…

Spotty brayed.

Krahel turned his head to see Shokrakar stand with one foot in the air. She calmly set it back down and took a closer look at the ground. There were several symbols etched into the stone. Reflected light from the magical braziers made them glow faint blue. "Pressure plate," she commented dryly and searched for the switch to turn it off.

Krahel meantime stared at the donkey. The donkey stared right back at him. Suddenly, he found the situation funny and chuckled. The donkey would have made a _really_ good scout. "Hey, Shokrakar, can we keep him? He's a better rogue than Meraad."

She only snorted and threw him a mischevous look over her shoulder, "Why are you asking me? Ask the donkey." Her fingers touched the hidden button and a soft click announced that the trap was disarmed.

Krahel turned back to Spotty, "So, what do you say? Want to join the Valo-Kas? We'll pay you in carrots."

The donkey snorted in his general direction and trotted ahead of them to stand by the next door.

Krahel chuckled and shook his head, "I don't think he likes us much."

"So long as he keeps saving our hides, he doesn't have to."

And that's how it went. Krahel lit up the path ahead, then Shokrakar explored the rooms to find any valuables they could carry with them. Krahel used the time to study the ancient carvings and murals along the walls, picking up any stray scrolls or bits of knowledge he could find. Might be interesting to study that on their way back.

Yet the further they ventured inside the temple, the more nervous Krahel got.

There was… no resistance. He expected at least a couple ancient corpses by now, maybe a shade or two, or even a couple weaker demons. But no matter how far they went, there was still no sign of trouble.

No sign of trouble, but statues mysteriously turn and shoot spectral lights in the courtyard? It made him nervous.

The flickering shadows from the torch light on the walls didn't make him feel any safer.

Shokrakar paused in front of huge, gilded doors. "This looks like it leads somewhere important," she whispered and Krahel nodded. Yes, he had that feeling too. Whaveter it was that caused all that trouble outside, they will probably find it beyond this door. They exchanged a look, then Shokrakar readied her sword and Krahel quietly did the same with his staff.

Then he took a deep breath and stepped up to the door. His gaze hardened.

He threw open the door and spread his magic around to light all the braziers simultaneously. Shokrakar roared and charged into the room. Krahel steadied himself, prepared a fireball in his hand and followed immediately behind her. His eyes skipped all over the room, searching for their enemy… yet he could find none?

He tightened his hold on the magic in his hand, spun around in search of the demon lest it sneak up behind him, when he heard… a squeak?

Both Vashoth whirled around to finally see their dreaded enemy…

A single rabbit, nested in the middle of glowing pressure plates.

-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-

Krahel laughed and laughed until his sides hurt. His laughter only got louder the more Shokrakar swore and cursed next to him. The donkey watchem all quietly, standing near the closest wall, but Krahel could swear that it laughed at them too.

When he finally caught his breath, he straightened up, "At least we didn't have to fight a demon, right?" He grinned at the scowling Shokrakar. He knew his lover well enough to know that her anger was mostly for show. She was just as relieved as him, only her way of dealing with emotions was different.

He shook his head with a weak chuckle and looked back at the rabbit again. The small animal watched them curiously, sniffling along its nest and not giving a care to what was happening with the strange, large creatures invading its home.

Krahel briefly wondered how it even got this far inside the temple… until he noticed the small but noticeable draft coming from the platform and realized there must be a hole in there somewhere.

Now that he thought about it, this room was brighter than the previous ones, and not because of all the braziers he lit up when they threw the doors open. There must be some small path that led outside - probably led right to the hidden water source as well.

Shokrakar calmed down and with a shake of her head, went to explore the final chamber and the smaller rooms around it, while Krahel took a moment to fully take in the scenery.

This room was truly grand, full of ancient frescoes with statues lining the walls. Not all of them were of archers… but the couple that were made him suddenly very aware of just where he stood. "Shokrakar."

She turned her head to him, and he nodded wordlessly to the statues. Her eyes widened when she saw that several were already aimed in their direction. She narrowed her eyes at the rabbit, then turned back to Krahel. "We need to make sure the rabbit won't trigger any more of those plates."

"I agree." Before she could ask him to shoot it with his magic, though, he continued, "That doesn't mean we have to kill it. We can just disarm the traps and carry the little thing away…"

She rolled her eyes, but smiled as well. Probably at his 'sentimentality', as she called it. "Any idea how we can disarm the entire platform?" She lifted an eyebrow at him.

"Hmm." Krahel scanned the whole room once more. There had to be a way to deactivate the platform, which was obviously meant for defense, unlike the traps in previous rooms. How else would the elves have safely lived here? That's when he noticed a couple levers along the far wall. "What are those for?"

Shokrakar went over to check them. She lifted the closest one… and the pressure plates stopped glowing. Yet when she let go of the lever again, it fell down and the platform glowed again. "Broken."

Krahel only shrugged one shoulder. "We can just find something to stick under the lever to make sure it doesn't fall down, and we can safely walk across the platform."

"Good idea," she agreed and went to the closest brazier to pick up a couple unused torches. She brought them back to the levers and stacked them under the closest lever. Couple moments fiddling with it, and the lever stayed up. The activated pressure plates changed color from teal to golden. He had no idea what that signified, but since nothing attacked, he thought it might be part of some different elven ritual. Shokrakar quickly did the same with the rest of them.

Once it was safe, Krahel casually went up to the platform and walked across it to reach the rabbit. The plates glowed bright under his much greater weight, but nothing happened. He didn't want to find out what would happen if he activated all of them, but walking across a couple of these couldn't hurt. He was almost at his goal when he spotted it.

A bowl.

Huge, ornamental offering bowl, which would be a beautiful find on its own, but what was more important was that… "Hey, Shokrakar!" He lifted the thing to show it to her. "I think this is made of pure gold!" The thing was surprisingly heavy in his hand, and he was used to carrying his metal staff around. "Not just plated, but gold all the way through!"

Her eyes widened, and then she started laughing. "Great find!… Adaar, I think you just found our lucky rabbit foot up there." She grinned at him, happy with this turn of events.

He chuckled and bent down to pick up the rabbit that was huddled in its nest. He grabbed it by the neck before it could decide to run. ' _So docile_ ,' he thought with a smile as he hugged it closer and felt it tremble slightly, then settle against him when it was obvious he meant it no harm. ' _I might even keep this thing, after all the money it just made us. Maybe it will bring us luck next time, too._ '

He turned to go, but froze on spot.

Spotty stood right next to the levers and watched the supporting torches with malevolent eyes.

Krahel only had time to lift a hand and shout, "Don't!" when the animal brayed louder than ever before and kicked the torches with its hind legs.

"Shit!" Krahel and Shokrakar shouted in unison. Krahel barely managed to keep hold of both the golden bowl and rabbit as he threw himself off the platform.

Shokrakar took cover in the closest alcove, and Krahel joined her just moments later, when they felt another deep rumble pass through the temple. The ceiling above their heads trembled, and dust rained down on their heads.

Miraculously, no archer along the walls shot any spectral arrows. All the traps within the room stayed inert.

The moment it was over, Shokrakar growled low at Spotty, "What the hell was _that_ for, you idiotic waste of fur! You almost killed us all!"

The donkey only snorted and aimed for the door.

Krahel calmed his wildly beating heart, took a deep breath and stood up. "That… was close."

"Tell me about it."

"At least there were no attacks aimed at us," he muttered. He wondered what Spotty's deal was. The animal obviously felt the traps, and understood what they did, somehow. But why would it try to kill them?

He shook his head. No matter, their little 'quest' will be over soon. Without any further 'accidents', he hoped. He stood up on shaky legs, packed the bowl and carried the rabbit in his arms. Then he picked up the discarded magic torch and went to follow Spotty. Despite this last… whatever it was, he would rather follow behind the animal than risk going blindly through the temple. Who knew what he'd step on.

Shokrakar rolled her eyes at him the entire way back. He cuddled the little fluffball in his hand to his chest and periodically checked if Spotty was still around… and if he had any further homicidal urges.

He almost ran into Shokrakar when she stopped in the final doorway. He gave her back a curious glance, threw away the now useless torch and went to stand next to her.

His jaw dropped.

The entire camp lay in ashes. There was nothing left of the tents, the trader's supplies were all but gone and in the middle of all this carnage, he could see four horribly burned human corpses. The traders, pinned by stone spikes and burned to death by the still smoking wolf heads that lined the walls of the courtyard.

He heard a sound and turned his head in shock to see a couple living bodies huddled together in one alcove, far away from the carnage. The rest of the donkeys. The donkeys who by some miracle all survived. Together with all the Valo-Kas supplies that Krahel left away from the humans.

Spotty snorted, completely satisfied with himself. Then he walked over to the traders, raked his hooves through the sand and kicked it at the corpses as if he was a dog trying to bury a piece of shit. Then Spotty's eyes foud Krahel, and the animal brayed with such smugness that Krahel could have sworn it _leered_.

And that was when…

-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-rabbit-

"… Shokrakar turned to the donkey and said, "We'll let this go if you will." And walked away." Krahel finished his story with a smile and leaned back against the chair.

Varric just continued laughing. When he finally calmed down, he rubbed his watery eyes and said, "Not bad! You don't mind if I steal that one, do you?"

Dorian added his own two cents amidst laughter, "Well done!"

Even Blackwall forgot his perpetual gloomy mood and laughed freely, "You ought to tell stories more often."

Cole was about the only one not laughing, and the reason for that was soon clear as he said with a smile, "I liked the part with the rabbit. There should be more rabbits in stories." Looked like everyone got something else out of that story, Krahel thought fondly as he watched the spirit-boy. He wondered how many rabbits will find their way into various people's rooms in the coming weeks.

Cassandra had no words, and simply continued laughing. Krahel was glad to see no hint of worry or doubt cloud her face. Telling that story was worth it, if it made his beloved Seeker more relaxed.

"That was scandalous! It would ruin the Inquisition if anyone found out," Josephine held a hand to her mouth in shock. Then she lowered it and smirked at him, "Tell it again!"

Krahel smiled at all his friends.

He had a feeling these Wicked Grace nights will become a common occurrence.

 _-The End-_


End file.
